The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-07-21
A SINGING REBUKE.
Cleveiand's Terrible Arrangement of Sell
SeAhinU MiSchieE-MaEar.


appear the traffic in sectional hate and
the betrayal of patriotic sentiment"
These words of the President of the
United States. combining the loftiest
patriotism with sober censure of re-
cent incorporate utterances concern
ing the rescinded battle-flag order,
"frenzied appeals 10 passion for un-
worthy purposes will confirm and
extend the feeling of confidence and
respect which is entertained for the
Administration by vast majority of
the people of this country. They are
the words of man who conceives for
patriots a nobler duty than the sys-
tematic treasuring up of the memories
and the visible symbols of civil strife.
more useful occupation than the
frequent and fiery iteration of
principles which none disputes
and which are no where more heartily
and fully recognized than amcng those
whose defeat eSta blished them forever.
They come from the heart of a Presi-
dent whose election marked the close
of the war period-the first President
of the completely re-uuited Republic
and they evince love of country such
as the traffickers in sectional hate cer-
tainly can not feel and probably can
not comprehend. Yet this is only
single sentence among many equally
notable in the Presidents letter to the
Secretary of the Philadelphia Brigade
upon the reunion on the field of Get
tysburg of the Union of ex-Confed
crate soldiers who fought there with
such desperate valor twenty-four years
ago.
As dignified and proper rebuke
of the self-seeking partisans who have
of late attracted some public attention
by curSing and denouncing the Presi
dent, this letter is well-nigh matchless
in its perfection. A more terrible ar
raignment of the Fairchilds and Tan
ners and other apostles of bitterness
whom the flag incident brought into
prominence could not be framed without
a wide departure from those stand
ards of verbal propriety which Presi-
dent is constrained to respect. What
severer thing can be said of man
than that his conduct shows an ''insin-
cerity which conceals hatred by pro-
fessions of Kindness" that he is Il
maker of 'frenzied appeals to passion
for unworthy purposes. and that he
is engaged in 1.-THE traffic in sectional
hate and the betrayal of patriotic sem
timent?" With rare aptness Mr.
Cleveland packs into one preg-
nant phrase characterization of
the "bloody-shirt'' issue which is
strictly true and stingingly Sc
severe. 1.-The traffic in sectional hate"
is a phraze which throws the revealing
light of the ''just word over the base
business in which not few eminent
citizens of the Northern States are
still actively engaged. And this de-
served censure of Fairchild and his
kind is Joined to sentiments which APP
peal with force to every American citi-
zen who sincerely loves his country,
his whole country. at surely can not
be wrong" writes the President, ''to
desire the settled quiet which lights for
our entire country the path to pros
perity and greatness; nor need the les
sons of the war be forgotten and its re-
suits jeopardized in the wish for that
genuine fraternity which inSures Ma
tional pride and glory
The obliteration of sectional lines
and the quieting of sectional passion
are precio us results of MIR. Cieve-
lands election. The extent to which
these results have been achieved is not
yet generally recognized. 1t is meas
ured to the public eye by the increas-
ing frequency of reunions and of ex-
changes of greetings between the SOL
diers of the Union army and those who
fought against them. The coming of
the survivors of Pickett's division to
the field of Gettysburg on the invita-
ton of the Philadelphia Brigade marks
the growth of the new feeling. But
the change has been most conspicuous
" demonstrated by the character and
the limitations of the pow-wOw about
the flags. 1t was led by General Fair
child, a professional old soldier. 1t
was helped on vOciferously by Corp"
Tanner, another professional old sol
der and chronic o1fice-seeker. And
it was kept up by newspaper editors to
whom, as to the two gentlemen we
have named, the incident seemed to
have been providentially furnished in
an unprecedentedly ''dry time" for
partisan use against the Demo
cratic party. But the great mass of
the people of the North were wholly
unaffected by these ''frenzied appeals
to passion" They were moved neither
by apprehension for the pcrmanency of
the ..results of the war; nor by any
sort of sympathy with those who were
engaged in the traffic in hate. The
good sense of the South in treating the
outbreak with the contempt it de-
served responded to this feeling of in
difference at the North. The loyal cit,
liens of both sections of the country
saw clearly that the agitators were
bawling about thing that didn't ex-
ist. They could make no sane person
believe that Grover Cleveland was n
''copperhead'' or that there was any
where in his Administration dispo-
sition to put the ''Confederacy in the
saddle" 1t was false alarm whose
falseness was everywhere recognized,
even by those who raised it. And now
the Presidents Gettysburg letter comes